Students and staff excited about new bike lanes

Returning students may notice new striping on Spring Street as bike lanes have been added after many requests.

Since 2008 long-range plans that involve improving transportation have been in the works.

“The efforts made in order to implement the new bike lanes were a project led by Miami staff and consultants,” Sam Perry, Oxford City Planner, said.

The plans for bike lanes at Miami that have just been carried out are part of the 2011 Circulation Master Plan Report. Miami made the plan to target pedestrian and bicycle safety on and off campus.

Students rely on riding their bikes around campus each day. Students also choose to longboard or skateboard to class. Boarders and bikers have exhibited excitement for the new bike lanes.

“I think it’s awesome, because Miami is a great campus with all the hills for riding bikes and longboarding, so you can get to class really easily,” senior Dan Nemeth said. “Now with the bike lanes, it will benefit all students because we don’t need to ride on the sidewalks, freeing them up and we have a safer way to ride on the streets.”

First-year Megan Mooney agreed with Nemeth that bike lanes will make getting to and from class safer, will keep traffic under control and is excited for the bike lanes because she will not be afraid of bothering drivers anymore.

The implementation of these bike lanes began in Juy and has affected parking. According to Lieutenant Ben Spilman of the Miami University Police Department, there have been in total 45 parking spaces lost.

This past Friday, there was a bike lane inauguration to recognize all Miami and Oxford officials who took part in the process of completing bike lane projects from planning to implementation. During this event, Miami University staff and members of the Oxford community celebrated with a ribbon cutting followed by a bike ride.

The Oxford Police Department advises all bike riders to ride with caution when using the bike lanes.